Monday, May 23, 2016

Summer Institute Testimonial

by Gena Boling, SI Faculty 2016

Associate Director of Student Financial Aid, University of Missouri

Picture this, June 2011. St. Louis, Missouri. It was hot –
historic temperatures indicate it was around 97 degrees in June. I just
remember sweating – a lot. Sounds like a grand location to lay the building
blocks of a financial aid career.

I had been in financial aid for just a few months and
received a scholarship from MASFAP to attend the MASFAA Summer Institute to
immerse myself in financial aid knowledge. It would be my first experience with
the regional association at a time when I still had very little knowledge of
the state association. I didn’t know what to expect. But, I knew I had to go.

I was working at Stephens College at the time, and the
financial aid director left a few months prior, leaving the two remaining staff
in the office to our own devices. MASFAA Summer Institute seemed like a perfect
solution to the problem of training – one week, tons of topics, walk away with
knowledge it would have taken weeks, if not months to get around to training on
in the office. My administration was supportive, so I packed my bags and drove
to St. Louis to spend a week with a few of my closest financial aid friends,
whom I technically hadn’t met yet.

Summer Institute was scheduled to begin bright and early on
a Monday morning, so I arrived at the hotel Sunday evening and anxiously
awaited the start of the program. Nervous as could be, I arrived about twenty
minutes early to my first session and found I was alone in a room with the
Chair of the MASFAA Summer Institute Committee, Candi Frazier (West Virginia).
I remember wearing green and I remember Candi rushing up to me to introduce
herself – I think I’ll forever be known to her as the first person to arrive to
Summer Institute, and that’s okay with me. I’ve admired Candi’s work in
financial aid and in MASFAA since that moment and am pleased she remembers who
I am, at all.

Financial aid administrators from all across the region
began to pile into the room, eager to soak up information like sponges and we
weren’t disappointed. Several days of intense training, homework and review
each night, mixed with plenty of time for networking and getting to know each
other, including one very warm cookout in Pam Fowler’s backyard – it was an
excellent week. Let me tell you, no one can teach an EFC hand-calculation like
Pam Fowler (Michigan) and when you walk away from that session, you know how to
do it – you’ve learned from the best.

So, this is heavy material and the information is packed in
tightly so that when you end your week with MASFAA, you are prepared to return
to your office as a knowledgeable resource on a variety of financial aid
topics. That being said, MASFAA Summer Institute faculty are engaging and fun
and turn what could be dry material into interesting learning opportunities.
For example, how many times have you seen Vickie Crupper (Michigan) in her
pajamas teaching a course on PJs?

Since my time at Summer Institute, I have served on the
boards of both our state and regional associations, volunteered hours of time
to both associations, and loved every minute of it. I have widened my network
of colleagues and count many MASFAA members among friends. And now, five years
later, I have the opportunity to return to Summer Institute as a faculty
member. I couldn’t wait to tell Candi Frazier when I saw her at the FSA
Conference this past fall – she was instrumental in building my foundation. I
hope you’ll consider joining me in June on the Illinois State University Campus
for a week of intense financial aid training. Who knows where your foundation will
take you!